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Concord is an upcoming 5v5 Hero-Shooter from Sony, marking the next step in the plan for the PlayStation to dominate the live-service market, after having one of the most successful launches of 2024 with Helldivers 2. But, some decisions could turn players off from the game before it has even been released.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Concord developer Chris Tapsell detailed the plans to require a PSN account to play the game, citing the requirement to allow for crossplay and progression. “That allows us to have cross-play, that cross-progression, that’s that’s an important piece of it,” he said.
“The goal is for players to come together. And so for us to have PC players and PlayStation 5 players together, for that cross-play and cross-progression to work, that’s a layer that needs to be there – just on a technical level. So the goal is we want to get players together, to have fun and play together, this is part of that experience.”
The PSN controversy was a major blow to Helldivers 2 in May 2024, with the game peaking at around 110,000-120,000 concurrent players at the time, to now averaging around 40,000-45,000. Much of this can be attributed to Helldivers 2 being unavailable to purchase or play in 180 countries, as well as some losing trust in both Arrowhead Game Studios and Sony. There has also been some backlash towards Ghost of Tsushima and God of War Ragnarok which both require PSN to play the PC versions.
The 5V5 Hero-Shooter genre is already seemingly a relic of the past as games such as Overwatch 2 have seen a significant decline in players over the past 5 or so years. Coupled with the game not being free-to-play and instead being a $40 release with cosmetic microtransactions, Concord already has the deck stacked against it. When free-to-play titles such as Overwatch 2 are readily available to play, along with Valve’s upcoming Deadlock, is there a need for to fork out $40 to purchase a similar title?
Tapsell wrapped up the interview by saying “Concord feels like a load of brilliant games combined – but is that enough? My fingers are crossed for this one being given enough time to find its identity on the fly.” With the industry and trends ever-changing, along with established titles containing to dominate the market, such as Elden Ring, Baldur’s Gate, Call of Duty, and Grand Theft Auto, I’m not sure it will have the time to find its footing and could launch DOA. The Concord beta goes live on July 12th for players that pre-order the game and July 18th for all players, it will be interesting to see what feedback the game gets as that could be a telling sign for the future when it is released on August 23rd.
